6-year-old already winning competitions

Hunting is part of family's history.

Hunting is part of family's history.

HOWELL, Mich. (AP) -- He's a little bit Robin Hood and a little bit Daniel Boone. Austin Cutright can shoot sparrows with his compound bow from 10 yards out and loves spending his days sitting quietly outdoors, looking for animals. He knows how to call for wild turkeys. Whatever he shoots, he eats. "Those sparrows are good as meatballs," said Austin, who has also eaten bear, elk, caribou, squirrels, rabbit and deer. He recently won a state indoor archery competition and took seventh during a national competition in which he was competing with children younger than 12. Not bad for a 6-year-old. His father, Ron Cutright, said his grandfathers and grandmothers were all hunters from West Virginia and Pennsylvania, and what they killed served as a main source of food for the family. Ron introduced his son to hunting by strapping him into a backpack carrier and taking him into the woods when he was four months old. He said Austin also loved watching hunting shows on TV and would cock his fingers and making a firing sound. "On Saturday morning, he's turning off the cartoons and he's watching the hunting shows," Ron Cutright said. He said his son was shooting toy bows since he could walk. When it came to getting Austin potty-trained, his dad used a different angle than most parents. He told his son he could shoot a .22-caliber rifle if he could use the bathroom on his own. "Within a week, he was trained," Ron Cutright said. He also said safety has always been stressed. Last year, he said, Austin turned 6 and was old enough to start taking archery lessons at the Livingston Conservation & Sports Association in Brighton Township. He said the club has a tremendous archery program for children, and his son has become enthralled with the sport. "I love to do that," Austin said of shooting arrows. He said he spends up to two hours a day practicing in his backyard, which opens onto a field and wooded area. Last year, Austin accompanied his father to Colorado for an elk hunt. While in camp, he was responsible for keeping the free-range cows out of the camp. He said it was fun shooting the cows with a thumper -- a rubber-tipped arrow -- to get them to move away. Stacy Greene-Cutright, Austin's mother, said she thought Austin would try archery and then give it up, but that just hasn't happened. "He really has this passion," she said.